Ladies and gentleman, it's here. It's finally here. After being in the business for more than 25 years, Byron Woods has released his debut effort.  The Woods story began in 1972, the year in which he got his first glints of the limelight.

Along with Trina Foster, Pamela Batchman and Johnny Foster, he collaborated to sing in a vocal quartet called The Celestrials. The group won fourth place in a talent contest. That was his first professional on-stage experience.

From 1975 until 1977 he performed locally in and around Chicago with a group called Heet. They consisted of Byron himself, Billy Hartfield, Anthony Dockery, Johnny Beard, Gail Pierce, and Julie Dominguez. Some time later the group Heet changed its name into Brandi getting a fresh start and they continued to perform up until 1981. Though they gained notoriety and mass appeal, and did recordings, unfortunately like Heet, Brandi never officially released any music.

While performing with Brandi, in 1979 he shared his talents by teaming up with Onstage, another Chicago-based group. The band consisted of, Mike Logan (vocals, keyboard), Larry Kimpel (bass), Dana Goodman (drums), Marsha Miller (vocals, songwriter), Willie Simmons (vocals, guitar), Thurman Morgan (guitar) and Chippito Hardy (Percussionist). After Brandi disbanded he became a full member of Onstage as a lead singer.

While the sounds of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' took the world by storm, Onstage accordingly did the same with their first release for the Sock label titled, 'Who You Really Are' with on the flip-side, 'Hooked On Your Love'. In 1984 they joined Jessie Saunders', Jessey Records and released 'She's A Lady Of The Night'. Two years later they parted and found fortune at Omnibus Records, ran by Karl Peteet (who eventually became Byron's manager). For Omnibus they released two more hit singles. The first one titled, 'I Give My Best', with the b-side being, 'Why', which featured Byron Woods on lead vocals. 'Alibi', which was co-written by Byron Woods and Mike Logan was there final release in 1987.

Onstage opened up for such artists as Ruby Jackson and Smoke City, to name a couple, and received widespread airplay. Onstage disbanded in 1989 and Byron continued to be active with some of his long-standing jazz collaborators The Kenchaney Xperience, and arranged vocals for Corky McClerckin. While with McClerkin, Byron sang lead on Searching For The Soul and his brilliance was displayed with the songs Love Is Your Name, Everything Must Change, and Passion, which featured Theresa Davis, of The Emotions.

A former member of Brandi, Marshall Titus, introduced Byron to the UK record label, Zing. While artists such as Teddy Pendergrass, Phil Perry, Marva Hicks, Victoria Wilson-James, and Caron Wheeler were soaring high in the UK charts, so was Byron, with his releases of 'I've Been In Love (But Not Like this)' and You Don't Even Know.

In 1991 his UK success continued with the UK label Ardent. Nanette Frank, another of Byron's friends and long-standing collaborator arranged the vocals for Look To Me For Love, a song he wrote with his dear friend, the late Garry Glenn, singer-songwriter of Motown Records.  

Byron founded his group VocalPoynt, which consists of Byron himself, Dan Porter, Mae Koen, and Dianne Madison. The group's musical influence covers a wide range of styles from Jazz to Pop to R&B, and Broadway. Vocalpoynt has performed as an opening act for The Temptations, Gerald Levert, Aretha Franklin, and Miki Howard. The group is currently in the studio working on their debut release.

Byron Woods has done background vocals for such greats as Phil Perry, who performed as an opening act for Patti Austin and he has shared the stage with Ben E King, Vesta Williams, and The Staple Singers. As a footnote, Byron's then road manager John Abbey was the founder of the worlds No1 Blues & Soul magazine, B&S. Byron continues to perform today with his own group and artists such as Nanette Frank and Dee Alexander.

Byron Woods' debut has a multi-faceted sound quality, which expresses his unique vocal range from his own natural tones to falsetto. This can be heard on songs such as You Are Here Tonight and Work Of Art, which showcases how he is able to effortlessly give what the song demands no matter what it takes. In The Land Of Smooth is a musical snapshot of one of the world's most gifted singer-songwriters. Other highlights are Fly Away, which was co-written by the late Garry Glenn, and Payback Is A Dog, a cover version of The Stylistics classic. Mike Logan co-produced the album and can be heard on the duet He'll Never Love You. This release will become a treasured addition to your music collection for years to come, for Byron Woods is the Tiger Woods of Soul!

Andreas Hellingh
for The Soul of Amsterdam

http://www.soultracks.com/byron_woods.htm